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“My Ricomagic Mini PC won’t start”

So I regularly check what people search for when getting to my blog, one big topic (Besides ASUS stuff) seems to be problems with the Ricomagic Mini PC MK802 IIIS, and the term “”My Ricomagic Mini PC won’t start” or “Freezes on boot screen”.

“Why the fuck doesn’t anyone write an easy guide in English for this shit?”
I can’t help myself, but whenever I see stuff like this with products I use myself, I just have to check if I can replicate the problem, and then hopefully fix it.. I won’t go any deeper into how you can “crash” your Ricomagic, but lets just say that cutting the power to it over and over again in certain situations will help.. 😛

With the Ricomagic MK802IIIs there’s really only one solution to any boot-up or software problem – Firmware recovery/upgrade. Easy enough? Sure, the problem is really not upgrading the actual firmware – it’s getting the right one and then read the instructions in Chinese or in best case “Engrish”..

I ended up with “Why the fuck doesn’t anyone write a easy guide in English for this shit?“. And then it hit me, I’m “Anyone“..

How to recover/upgrade your Ricomagic MK802 IIIS in three stepsYou will do this in three steps, 1. the software part, 2. the hardware driver installation and last, 3. recovery/upgrade. Keep reading below! Before you start you will need:
– A thin metal pin
– A micro USB to USB cable
– A PC with Win 7 32-bit
– The recovery software

You will need a computer with Win 7 32-bit (Vista, XP works to)
(64-bit won’t work, not that they’ll tell you that anywhere..)

– Unpack the zip file, the content should look something like below
– Unpack the “Batch Tool v1.5” and put it in the same folder

– Then open the folder you just unpacked – “Batch Tool v1.5”

Force the update tool to always start with English selected (optional)
Before you go any further I would recommend you to set the language in the “config” file above to English (unless you are fluent in Chinese..)

– Open the “config” file with notepad and change it like below with the “Selected=2” line forcing the update tool to always start with English selected, then save the “config” file.

– Start the “RKBatchTool”
– Load up the image file by browsing the button to the left of “FW Path”

The file will be called something like “0121-MK802IIIS4G,8G update” and will be in the root of the folder you unpacked earlier. Now just leave this window open and keep going below.

– Use a “metal pin” and press down the recovery button (you will feel/hear a “clicking sound”) if done correctly
– keep it pressed down while connecting the USB cable to you’re PC. (3-5 seconds should be enough)

Windows should detect it and start looking for drivers within 3-5 seconds. It won’t find any, so you will have to install them manually, that’s why I recommend the Pro tip below.

Pro tip (optional)
Press win+r and then write “devmgmt.msc” to start the device manager. Keep it open while you press down the recovery button and connect the Ricomagic to your PC as described above.

Done right, the Ricomagic will show up as an “unknown device” and you can install the drivers manually from the folder you unpacked earlier. “Install anyway” if you are prompted with any warnings.

3. The recovery process (The easy part)If you done right, the “RKBatchTool” (you started it earlier) should connect to your Ricomagic and should look something like this:

– Hit the upgrade button
– Wait for about 3-4 minutes while it updates
– When the progress is finished, disconnect your Ricomagic

Connect with a TV and boot it up like normal, the first time it will take a bit longer to start, be patient. You will have to reinstall any apps and redo your settings as you just did a recovery/upgrade.

If this guide helped you in anyway please leave me a comment below – I like to connect with both people and machines 🙂

Nice article, but now I still can’t upgrade RK802. I planned to upgrade because the device can’t boot after I did ‘adb reboot’. I’ve pressed the micro button and connect the USB cable in OTG port at the same time, but always failed. What’s your opinion about this?

Oloan, first of all, thx for reading my blog.
In my case, I fail about 9 times out of 10 times when pressing the button. It’s very easy to get this wrong. Try, try again and if you are absolutely sure you are doing it right, send your device back. I find this step very frustrating myself tbh.

Hello,
The device doesn’t show up in device manager, I’ve tried numerous times to connect it but with no success…
Originally it was working, but then halfway through upgrading it just stopped showing up…
Do you have any advice?

Sounds like there’s a serious problem with either your device or the port you are connecting it to. If thing stops “halfway through upgrading” it’s a big chance you actually have broke you device. I would recommend to contact the store you bought it from to get it replaced.

Nice blog!
got a Little problem though …
It fails when I upgrade
Insted of getting a nice green botton (6.1) I get a pink one (2-2-1) and a funny Fail message.
“this operation didn’t do, becauseof not supporting”

Thanks for this excellent post… quite the gem in the midst of all the gibberish stuff that might as well be greek.
I have a question: would this ROM work on any RK3066 chipset based stick? Mine is a android 4.2 based stick from some no-name vendor that I bought off of a chinese website. I know the chipset it’s based on is the RK3066. Its now gone dead on me (dead android with the exclamation point on the boot screen) and your instructions are the only hope I have of making it come alive again.

Thanks a lot for this guide!
I’m running a Macbook Pro with OS X Maverick and a virtual Windows 8 (64-bits) on Parallels desktop. I managed to force Windows 8 to not enforce the default policy of signed drivers (Ricomagic drivers are not signed….) using the information on

Hi Edgar!
You do realise that this is a private blog and I am in no way responsible for the Ricomagic site or their files. If you have any problem with thier site or the files they are providing i suggest you contact them via http://www.rikomagic.com

Hey Blackmoore! Very nice tip, our RKM died last night, due to playing with the power (as you did when replicating the fault if I understood that correctly 🙂 )
After kicking about myself for 30 min I went to internet and lo and behold, here’s the answer how to fix it 🙂
I have W7 64-bit and tried RKM firmware from 2013-11-07 as Mr.Mongo did and it worked a charm.
Thanks a bunch!

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I have a RKM RK12, purchase in december/2015, and now, for no reason, the box wont star, and the blue led is off. But when connected to pc the blue light in on.

Well, i have done the download of the firmware and tried to install but had always the same error in the driver installation, d’ont install (i have done all: disable firewall, antivírus, run as administrator and in compatibility mode).

All the instrutions were followed.

I just d’ont know how to solve the problem.

I need your help.

I have now a powerfull box, less then 30 days, that is dead for no reason. HELP PLEASE.

I need help because I mk36 Walled Change bios Parameter
I managed to find files for each image MA and .bin format
The Batch tool program wants a file format .img
but I can not find it on the site rikomagic dove as I can Rovare
Thank you